Repeating firearm actions

ABSTRACT

AN ACTION MECHANISM FOR REPEATER OR SEMI-AUTOMATIC FIREARM SUCH AS A SMALL CALIBER RIFLE OR CARBINE HAVING A LONGITUDINALLY SLIDING BREECH BOLT AND AN INNER OR CONCEALED FIRING PIN STRIKING HAMMER AND AN OUTER COCKING MEANS LINKED TO SAID INNER HAMMER WHEREBY, WHILE BOTH SAID INNER HAMMER AND BOLT ARE FULLY CONCEALED AND PROTECTED WITHIN THE FIREARM BREECH BODY, THE INNER HAMMER CAN BE CONTROLLED, COCKED AND HALF-COCKED BY THE USER BY ACTING ON SAID OUTER COCKING MEANS.

Nov. 2, 1971 A. PISCETTA 3,616,725

REIEATING FIREARM ACTIONS Filed Feb. 25, 1959 2 Sheets-.Sheet 1 United States Patent O ILS. Cl. 89-132 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An action mechanism for repeater or semi-automatic firearm such as a small caliber rifle or Carbine having a llongitudinally sliding breech 'bolt and an inner or concealed firing pin striking hammer and an outer cockmg means linked to said inner hammer whereby, while both said inner hammer and bolt are fully concealed and prote'cted within the firearm breech body, the inner hammer can be controlled, cocked and half-cocked by the user by acting on said outer cocking means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention lies in field of firearms in particular of carbines and rifles of the repeating type and more particularly but not specifically of small caliber automatic or semi-automatic ries. More specifically, this invention is concerned with action mechanisms for firearms as above, comprising a breech body, a breech bolt longitudinally reciprocatable into and fully concealed and protected within said body land an inner or concealed hammer positioned beneath said bolt and arranged to be cocked as a consequence of the rearward motion of the bolt, upon firing, into engagement with a trigger operated sear means.

Description of prior -art The action mechanisms of the type comprising a slidably reciprocatable breech bolt as `above can be considered as appertaining to either of two principal classes, one of which is provided with Ian inner or concealed harnmer, .as above, and the other of which is provided with an outer cock, positioned rearwardly of the bolt and having an externally protruding spur, the hammer being cocked by abutment thereof with the rear end portion of the breech bolt when said bolt completes its rearward movement. In any case, the cocking of the hammer, in mechanisms of both classes, is caused by the backward motion of the bolt. Such latter motion, `at its turn, can be obtained in many different ways in various types of semi-automatic rifles, :according to their actions, such as straight blowback, short recoil or gas operated actions. Anyway, such motion is extremely fast and implies a pretty long motion of a noticeably bulky component as the breech bolt is.

Either class of mechanisms, as mentioned above, has its own advantages and is subject to certain objections, as well lknown to those skilled in the art. Briefly recalling some of said advantages and objections:

The hammerless actions (that is the actions provided with inner hammers) have no bulky movable parts located outside the breech, nearly in line with and near to the marksman eye, and the bolt can be protected against rain, snow, sand and so on, and its sliding parts can be kept properly clean and lubricated. The actual position of the inner hammer cannot be visualized and, in case of misfire, it cannot be re-cocked. In addition, the desirable feature of safety and spring relieving half-cocking of the hammer cannot generally be provided in hammerless actions.- v v l v From some points of view, an :action provided with an outer cock is safer than a hammerless one. The hammer can be controlled and manipulated, and also half-cocked. The outer parts are however not proteoted and the visible violent motion of the bolt disturbs fast aimed shooting.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention has for its principal object to provide a new and improved action mechanism which is not subject to the above objections and limitations of the above mechanisms of any of the above classes, while maintaining the advantages thereof.

In its broadest concept, the improvement comprises providing an otherwise hammerless action of the type referred to above with a second outer false cocking means so linked to the concealed or inner `actually firing pin striking hammer that said inner hammer may be controlled and cocked by manipulating said outer cocking means. According to another aspect of this invention, the improved mechanism comprises `a longitudinally sliding bolt completely enclosed within a breech body, 'a firing pin conventionally located in said bolt, an inner first hammer adapted for striking on said firing pin when said bolt is at its breech closing position, an outer cocking means located rearwardly of said breech ibody and having a manually operatable spur, and link means connecting together said inner and said cocking member so that said inner hammer can be cocked by depressing or otherwise acting on the spur of said outer cocking member.

According to a first embodiment of this invention, the striking hammer and the cocking member are linked together for concurrent movement. Preferably, linking means comprise a connecting link or rod hingedly connected to lever portions secured to or preferably integrally formed with said inner hammer and said cocking means. Morey preferably, the lever portion appertaining to the outer cocking member is longer than the lever portion appertaining to the firing pin striking inner hammer, so that said outer cocking member performs a rotational motion concurrent with but smaller and slower than the motion actually performed by the inner hammer.

Accordingto another embodiment of the invention, the link means are so arranged that the inner hammer can perform its full cocking and firing pin striking movements While the cocking member is at standstill at its raised or apparently not cocked position, but lowering or apparently cocking of the cocking member causes actual cocking of the inner hammer, if in not completely cocked position, such as after a misfire,I or when half-cocking and actual cocking is desired.

These `and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be best understood from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which form an essential component of this disclosure.

THE SEVERAL FIGURES `OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. l is a purely diagrammatical view of the middle portion of a semi-automatic small caliber rifle, having parts broken away for illustration of the general arrangement of the outer hammer and the cocking member;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view and partly a side view of the essential components of a mechanism constructed according to `a first embodiment of the invention, immediately after firing and consequent cocking of inner hammer;

FIG. 3 is la similar fragmentary view of the mechanism, but including components constructed and arranged according to a modified embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates the mechanism of FIG. 2, in halfcocked safety position;

3 FIG. 5 illustrates the mechanism, modified according to the embodiment of FIG. 3, with the inner hammer striking on the firing pin for shooting; and

FIG. 6 is similar to FIG. 3 and illustrates how by acting on the cocking member the inner hammer can be half or fully cocked.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the drawings there is shown a generally conventional semi-automatic rifle the action of Iwhich comprises a breech bolt 10 provided with a firing pin 11 and slidably arranged into :a breech body 12 firmly secured to the barrel 13. In the example shown, the action is of the straight blowback type and the bolt 10 is biased by a coil spring 14 which moves the bolt forwardly in its breech closing position (FIGS. 1 and 4), after tiring Iand extraction of the case 15 (FIG. 2) of the `fired cartridge from the chamber 16 (FIG. 2), the cartridge being of the rimre type. The coil spring 14 abuts on la fixed block 27 secured to the breech body 12. The details of the extractor and the mode in which the action mechanism reloads the rifle, after firing, by taking a new cartridge from `a magazine 17, upon disposing of the red case, are not detailedly described as being conventional in the art and not forming part of this invention.

In addition, the above described structure could be of different type. For example, the action can be of short recoil or of gas operated type, and constructed for making use of centerfire cartridges taken olf from a differently constructed and arranged magazine.

The action comprises an inner hammer 18 positioned and adapted for striking on the firing pin 11 (FIG. 4) upon closing of the breech and acting on the trigger 21. In consideration of the fact that the improved mechanism of the invention comprises a hammer 18 which will be hereinafter termed striking hammer. The hammer 18 is conventionally cocked by rearward motion of the breech bolt 10 until engagement with a sear 19 forming part of a knockoff lever 24 having a lateral projection 23 engageable by a trigger lever 22. Springs 25 and 26 Iare provided for biasing said trigger and trigger lever and respectively said searing knockoff lever.

The above components might be also differently constructed and arranged. For example, the sear can be differently connected to or integrally formed with the trigger, according to the art to ywhich this invention appertains.

The striking hammer 18 has an additional notch 28 (FIG. 2) for half-cocking (FIG. 4) in addition to the full cocking notch 20 (FIGS. 4 and 5) for engagement with sear means 19. In prior art inner or concealed hammers, no half-cocking means are and can be provided.

A cocking member is indicated 'at 30 in FIGS. l, 2 and 4, and its modified embodiment of FIGS. 3, 5 and 6 has been indicated at The cocking member is located at least partially external to the breech -body and has a spur 31 for its manipulation. The cocking members 30` or 30 is oscillatably supported about a pin 32 secured to the action mechanism structure, rearwardly of the block 27 and it is not contacted or otherwise directly acted upon by the breech bolt 10.

In either preferred embodiments of the invention, shown in FIGS. 2 and 4 and respectively in FIG. 5, all parts and components shown at righthand of trigger 21 and of block 27 are identical and, therefore, such parts and components have been omitted in FIGS. 3 and 6. In particular, FIG. 3 is to be considered similar to FIG. 2 except in that the cocking member and the link means, which will be discussed below, have -been modified according to said FIG. 3.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the strik ing hammer 18 is connected to the cocking member 30 by means of a connecting rod 33 hingedly connected to its opposite ends at said striking and to said cocking member by means of pivot pins 34 and respectively 35. Therefore said hammer and the cocking member are caused to move concurrently and simultaneously. The main spring, designed for causing the striking hammer 18 to strike the firing pin upon disengagement thereof from sear 19, consists of a coil spring 36 arranged about said connecting rod 33 and abutting on a stationary part 37 secured to the breech body or to the action structure. Such arrangement is however not critical for the invention and the main spring can be arranged according to other known arrangement and also directly connected to the striking hammer, if wanted or expedient.

It will be readily evident that the above described construction improves the rifle or Carbine in that the firearm is provided with a completely concealed and protected breech bolt and striking hammer, and therefore the tirearm has the advantageous features typical of the firearms of the hammerless family, while the actual position, control and manipulation of the striking hammer can be checked and made by acting on the outside cocking member, exactly as it would be done on the hammer of an action of the outer hammer type.

Preferably, and as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4, the said connecting rod is hinged at 35 to a lever portion integral to the cocking member 30, which is noticeably longer than the lever portion integral to the striking hammer 18 and at which the same connecting rod is hinged at 34. Therefore, the motion of the cocking member 30 is concurrent with but of smaller angular amplitude and slower than the concurrent motion of the striking hammer. This feature is preferably present in the modified embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, and leads to a smaller apparent motion of external parts of the action and to less disturbance in aimed repeated shooting than in conventional outside hammer firearms.

Upon the provision of the above described hammer and link means, the inner hammer can be cocked after a misfre, thus avoiding ejection of the unred cartridge, and also half-cocked, as shown in FIG. 4. The cocking is obtained by acting in direction A on the spur 31 of the cocking member, as conventional on an outside hammer.

The modified preferred embodiment of FIGS. 3, 5 and 6 has a cocking member 30 so linked to the striking hammer 18 that no moving external parts exist during regular shooting, while half-cocking, cocking and position control of the concealed striking hammer can be done by manipulating the said cocking member.

The cocking member is biased by its own spring such as at 40 towards its apparently un-cocked or raised position of FIGS. 3 and 5. The lever portion integrally formed therewith has a pivot pin 35 slidably engaged within an elongated opening 35" formed in the rear end portion of said connecting rod 33. The length of said elongated opening 35 corresponds to or is slightly longer than the stroke of said rod 33 as the striking hammer 18 is reciprocated between its full cocked position (FIG. 2) and its firing pin striking position (FIG. 5), and the relative position of said components is such that when the cocking member is maintained in its raised position of FIGS. 3 and 5 by its said spring 40 it will be left undisturbed at standstill during shooting, that is during reciprocation of the striking hammer 18 and of rod 33. Such effect will be apparent upon comparison of FIGS. 3 and 5, FIG. 3 to be considered together with FIG. 2.

On the other hand, assuming that the striking hammer 18 is actually not in its fully cocked position, but in its striking position of FIG. 5 0r at half-cock as shown in FIG. 4, by depressing the spur of cocking member 30', in the direction of A (FIG. 6r), the connecting rod 33 will be forwardly pushed in the direction indicated by arrow B (FIG. 6) as soon as the pin 35' will abut on the right end of the elongated opening 35", thereby moving the concealed striking hammer 18 towards and into its fully cocked position. Similarly, the cocking member 30 can be used for half-cocking the striking hammer, upon conventional manipulation: while the cocking is kept depressed in direction A, the striking hammer will be disengaged from the sear by acting on the trigger, and the cocking member 3G (and therefore the striking hammer 18) will be slowly raised while the trigger will be released for ensuring engagement of sear into the half-cocking notch 23 (FIG. 2), while the concealed striking hammer is caused to follow the slow upward motion of the external cocking member.

In addition, by acting on the cocking member, the rieman can feel the actual position of the concealed striking hammer IS. Assuming that said latter hammer is actually in its full cocked position of FIG. 2 (and the link means are in the position of FIG. 3 relative to the cocking member), `the rifleman will feel only the small resistance of the spring 40 when he depresses the spur of the cocking member. On the contrary, assuming that the striking position of FIG. 5, or half-cocked as shown in FIG. 4, the rifieman will immediately or nearly immediately feel the remarkably greater resistance of the main spring when he depresses the spur of the false hammer.

Evidently, the ready to fire (cocked) and the Safety (half-cocked) positions of the action cannot be visually distinguished in a construction according to the modified embodiment of FIGS. 3, 5 and 6. The rilieman will however become readily accustomed to check such position, and to full cock the striking hammer, it not cocked, just before shooting is expected, by fully depressing the false hammer.

It is further evident that either of the above described embodiments of the invention, and their equivalents, have their own advantages and limitations. For example, the embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 4 is simpler than the embodiment of FIGS. 3, 5 and 6, and permits to check the ham mer position at a glance. In the embodiment of FIGS. 3, 5 and 6 there are no external components which move during regular shooting and the inertial forces opposed to the stroke of the inside hammer are smaller as the outside cocking member does not participate to the motion.

It is evident that other structural features can be made use of for taking advantage of the invention, in partielllar according to the type and the details of the breech action and of the percussion or firing system of the specific firmarm, without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

I claim:

1. In an action mechanism of a repeating firearm which comprises a barrel, a breech body fixed to said barrel, a breech bolt arranged longitudinally reciprocable within said breech body, and a trigger-controlled striking hammer tiltably supported within said breech body and adapted to be brought into its fully cocked position by a backward stroke of said bolt, cocking means for moving said striking hammer independent of the movement of said breech bolt to the cocked position, said cocking means comprising a cocking lever located rearwardly of said breech body and having a visible manually operable portion, said cocking lever being movable from a rest to a cocking position; and link means connecting said cocking lever only to said striking hammer for moving the latter to said cocked position upon movement of said cocking lever from said rest to said cocking position,

2. Cooking means as defined in claim 1, wherein said link means comprise a connecting :rod hingedly connected at opposite ends to said striking hammer and said cocking lever.

3. Cocking means as defined in claim 2, wherein said striking hammer and said cocking lever are pivotable about axes respectively spaced from the pivotal connection of said connecting rod thereto, and wherein the diS- tance between the axis of said cocking lever and the pivotal connection of the connecting rod to said cocking lever is greater than the distance between the axis of said striking hammer and the pivotal connection of said rod to said striking hammer so that the amplitude of angular movement of said cocking lever is smaller than that of said striking hammer.

4. Cocking means as defined in claim 1, wherein said link means connect said cocking lever to said striking hammer so that the latter is moved with said cocking lever during movement of the same from said rest to said cocking position and so that said cocking lever is moved from said rest to said cocking position when said striking hammer is moved by the backward stroke of said bolt to the cocked position thereof.

5. Cocking means as defined in claim 1, wherein said link means comprise a lost-motion connection between said cocking lever and said striking hammer arranged to move said striking hammer to the cocked position thereof during movement of said cocking lever from said rest to said cocking position but to leave said cocking lever in its rest position when said striking hammer is moved to its cocked position by the backward stroke of said bolt.

6. Cooking means as defined in claim 5, and including spring means connected to said cocking lever for biasing the latter to its rest position.

7. Cocking means as dened in claim 5, wherein said cocking lever and said striking hammer are levers pivotable about fixed axes and wherein said link means comprises a pair of link pins fixed to said levers spaced from the respective pivot axis and a connecting rod pivotably connected at one end to one of said link pins and being formed at the other end with an elongated opening extending in longitudinal direction of said rod through which the other of said link pins extends slidable in longitudinal direction of said opening and turnable with respect thereto.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 16,288 12/1856 Schroeder et al. 42 69 B 291,980 1/1884 Budd 42-69 B 2,464,418 3/1949 Sefried 89-14 D 2,715,355 8/1955 Garand 89-14 D 3,386,336 6/1968 Roy 89-1 C FOREIGN PATENTS 646,106 6/1937 Germany 42-69 B BENJAMIN A. BORCHELT, Primary Examiner S. C. BENTLEY, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. XR. 89--1 K 

